OXiGENE (OXGN) to Present Data Showing Importance of Local Site Pathology Confirmation in Phase 2/3 Clinical Trial of Zybrestat® in Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Sept. 7, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OXiGENE, Inc. (Nasdaq:OXGN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics to treat cancer, announced the presentation of data from the Phase 2/3 trial (FACT) of ZYBRESTAT in patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), showing that patients enrolled in the trial had confirmed histologic diagnoses of ATC as indicated by site selected local pathology confirmation and a high rate of reliability and concordance with a second, independent central pathology review conducted prior to patient enrollment. These findings underscore the feasibility of utilizing local pathology confirmation of ATC in future clinical studies in ATC without the need for central pathology confirmation prior to patient enrollment, and indicate that a post-enrollment central review would provide the same degree of assurance. This should allow a more rapid enrollment of patients into future clinical trials in this indication. These data also confirm that patients with more favorable histologies were not enrolled in the study.